Choosing Jobs: What Matters?

Overview

In a working professional’s life, jobs are transient- but career is an ongoing journey. The choices they make while choosing a job opportunity, impacts the rest of their career trajectory.

Posterity Consulting, a talent intelligence and advisory firm, conducted a survey in the corporate sectors of white-collar professionals across functions, to understand the motivations of an individual when choosing a job opportunity.

Target Audience

This report is valuable to:

• Top Executives (CXOs, CHROs) across sectors to understand the talent map of India
• HR Professionals involved in Employee Lifecycles- from Talent Acquisition to Retention to Exit. Workin
•  Professionals contemplating opportunities, or needing to understand Industry Peer Trends

Survey Methodology

The Survey Participants were asked to provide their ranking priority for the following parameters in order of importance, when choosing a job opportunity:

• Employer Brand- how a brand is positioned in the market, recognizability, employer perception
• Monetary Gain- cash and non cash components, perks and benefits etc.
• Profile & Growth- Quality of Work, Autonomy, Scope of Growth, Development Opportunities etc.
• Organization Culture & Environment- Policies, Processes, Governance, Learning etc.
• Comfort- Work-Life Balance, Workplace amenities, ease of commute etc.

The participant data (Sample Size- 6000+) was split in two fashion:

• According to Employer Sector:

1. Professional Services & Outsourcing
2. Digital & Internet Startups
3. Technology, Media and Telecom
4. Banking, Financial Services, Insurance (BFSI)
5. Industry- Manufacturing and Engineering

• According to Individual Experience Level:

1. Junior- 2 to 6 Years
2. Middle- 6 to 14 Years
3. Senior- 14+ Years

• It excludes C-Suite, and 0-2 Years Professionals.

The participants were from across various strata, such as geography, gender, levels etc. of sample population.

Also read: 85% Indian Professionals to upskill themselves For FY25: Report

Key Inferences

• Profile and Growth emerge as the first priority for professionals at all career levels, indicating a universal desire for advancement and skill development opportunities
• Monetary Gain, even though is important for all, it is consistently valued more by middle-level professionals than junior and senior-level professionals, with 70.8% of professionals opting for it as one of their first two priorities, which suggests that mid-career individuals prioritize financial stability.
• Senior-level professionals prioritize factors beyond monetary gain, with only 25.6% ranking it as their top priority. Conversely, 51.2% of senior-level professionals prioritize organizational culture and environment. This suggests that as people climb the career ladder, they tend to value factors like job satisfaction and workplace atmosphere over just money.
• Gen-Z prioritizes Comfort, with 36.4% ranking it as their first priority. This indicates that entry-level individuals may prioritize factors such as work-life balance, and workplace amenities when choosing their first job or career path.
• Senior-level professionals prioritize comfort to a slightly lesser extent, with only 27.9% listing it as their first priority. Contrary to the theoretical assumption that comfort might be valued more by senior-level professionals, the data suggests a different reality.
• The Digital and Internet Startups participants rated Employer Brand Awareness as their top priority at 40%- highest among all sectors, indicating a strong presence and recognition of brands within this sector, likely influenced by its innovative and technology-driven nature, where companies often invest heavily in marketing and brand building to maintain competitiveness and appeal to digitally savvy consumers.
• The BFSI and Digital & Internet Startup Participants deviated from trend and prioritized Employer Brand Awareness over Monetary Gain, making it Rank 2 in their overall priorities. The Professional Services & Outsourcing Participants prioritized Comfort over Monetary Gain, making it Rank 2 in their overall priorities.
• Organization culture and environment receives a whopping 49% rating as top priority for Industry (Manufacturing and Engineering) participants, indicating its significance in influencing career decisions. A positive work culture, safety protocols, and conducive working environments seem to be valued within the sector.

Method to Read Report

The dashboard exhibits 6 charts.

Chart 1: A row chart highlighting the average density of participants that ranked each parameter as priority 1.

Chart 2: A line graph showcasing the percentage of participants that ranked all 5 parameters, depending on their individual experience levels.

Chart 3: The top priority segmented across sectors, in order of importance.

Chart 4: A bar chart spotlighting the top 3 parameters (Employer Brand, Monetary Gain, Profile & Growth) and how the sectorial preference differs from the average density of participants.

Chart 5: The demographic mix of participants across sectors, that participated in the survey.

Chart 6: The key findings from the survey.

Career Choice Survey

What motivates a person to pick a job?

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